(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a white-line display apparatus for a vehicle which recognizes a white line on a road surface, and displays the recognized white line on a screen.
(2) Description of Related Art
In recent years, a technique as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2003-104146 has become widespread. According to this technique, a positional relation between an own vehicle and a white line on a road surface on which the own vehicle run is detected using a detector such as a CCD camera, and when there are fears that the own vehicle may go out from the lane (including a region between white lines on both sides of the own vehicle), a warning of deviation from the lane is given to a driver by means of display on a screen or a sound.
In Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2003-104146, there is described an apparatus in which when there are fears that the own vehicle may deviate from the lane, the apparatus gives a warning of deviation from a lane on a warning display provided on an instrument panel in front of a driver's seat.
In this apparatus, a white line is shown always at a determined position in the display screen. An image of the own vehicle is shown between both the displayed white lines. When the own vehicle deviates from the lane, as shown in FIG. 4, a display position of the own vehicle image is deviated to a position intersecting with the white line, and a deviating state of the own vehicle from the lane is shown.
According to the conventional warning display screen, however, even when the own vehicle is likely to be deviated from the lane, the white lines are always displayed at the determined positions on the left and right sides of the screen; therefore, there is a large sensory difference with respect to the actual visual image of the driver. That is, the warning display screen in the conventional display apparatus can not be said as being a display screen with which the driver can instinctively understand a deviated state of the own vehicle from a lane.
The present invention has been accomplished in view of such a circumstance, and it is an object of the invention to provide a vehicular display apparatus in which a driver can instinctively understand a deviated state of his or her own vehicle from a lane.